MphasiS Q3 net rises 57% to Rs 28.50 crore

BS 200 SCORECARD

The net profit of MphasiS BFL has gone up by 57 per cent to Rs 28.50 crore in the third quarter ended December 31, 2003, against Rs 18.18 crore in the previous corresponding quarter.

The third-quarter net profit represents an increase of 12 per cent over the Rs 25.46 crore posted in the previous sequential quarter ended September 30, 2003.

Consolidated revenues at Rs 148.63 crore in the current quarter have increased 28 per cent over the same quarter last year. On a sequential quarter-on-quarter basis, revenues have grown by four per cent.

The company's business process outsourcing (BPO) subsidiary MsourcE recorded revenues of Rs 48.32 crore in the quarter ended December 31, 2003, as against Rs 26.22 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year, representing a revenue growth of 84 per cent.

On a sequential quarter-on-quarter basis, this represents a revenue growth of eight per cent. During this quarter, MsourcE registered a net profit of Rs 7.55 crore. MsourcE currently has 18 active clients and a workforce of 3,418.

Jerry Rao, chairman and chief executive officer of the group said: "The group had a good quarter with profits at our BPO subsidiary showing remarkable growth. Client additions in the software business have been particularly encouraging and the expectations are that this trend will continue in the immediate future. At the same time, we have consciously invested and added development staff to meet the strong pipeline of business for the next quarter. We have also been successful in controlling our overhead costs across the group."

Software services revenues in the current quarter at Rs 100.30 crore have increased by 2.2 per cent on a sequential quarter-on-quarter basis. Net margins in the software business have remained steady at nearly 21 per cent.

The significant improvement in net profit for this quarter is due to lower selling, general and administrative costs and foreign exchange gains.

Selling, general and administrative expenses have reduced from 17.7 per cent as a percentage of revenues in the same quarter last year to 14.1 per cent of revenues in the current quarter.

The group's consolidated revenues for the nine months ended December 31, 2003, have gone up by 37 per cent at Rs 421.78 crore compared with the previous year, while net profit has increased by 52 per cent to Rs 73.45 crore in the same period.